Anna Kuzenkova (Hebrew: אנה קוזנקוב, Russian: Анна Кузенкова; born (2001-03-12)12 March 2001), known professionally as Anna Zak[3] (אנה זק), is a Russian-born Israeli[4] singer, model, actress, and online personality. Her following consists of 5 million followers on TikTok and over 1 million followers on Instagram.[2]
She is one of the most influential Israelis online.[5] In 2017, she ranked number 1 on the Israeli youth influencing Instagram Nana 10,[6] while the Israeli Internet Association ranked her as the overall most influential Israeli Instagrammer.[7]
On August 23, 2017, she officially launched her musical career by releasing her debut single, "Money Honey." On January 2, 2022, she released her first commercially successful song, "Lech Lishon" (לך לישון, lit. Go to Sleep). She released the music video on the same day as the audio, and it has over 20 million views.
Early and personal life
Anna Kuzenkova was born in Sochi, Russia, to Natalia and Denis Kuzenkov. Her father is Jewish, whereas her mother is an ethnic Russian.[8] In 2010, when she was 10 years old, her parents, she and her sister, and the grandparents all immigrated to Israel.[9] The family settled in Ashdod, a southern Israeli city on the Mediterranean coast, where she then learned to speak Hebrew.[9][10][8] Her parents later separated and her father returned to Russia, working on the Sochi Olympics.[10] Her older sister served in the Israeli military during the same period.[11]
She attended the Mekif Het High School in Ashdod, Israel.[12] She selected her surname, Zak, as a stage name while in high school.[13][14]
In March 2020, she was inducted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), for the military service that every young person must do.[15] She had been in a relationship with Israeli singer Roee Sendler since 2019. They broke up at the end of January 2023.[16][17]
She began her career in 2014 on the Israeli children's reality show The Boys And The Girls.[18] In 2016 she was chosen to be the face of Scoop Shoes, earning a NIS₪50,000 contract at the age of 15 (approximately $14,000US as of 2023, and a large sum for a child).[19][20] She was also selected as the face of a global campaign for the hair removal brand Veet.[19] She said in an interview that at her school, some of her teachers do not know about her social media career.[18] While still in ninth grade, her monthly income from her social media profile was at least NIS 10,000 (approximately $2,500USD), not counting her sponsorship deals.[21] Although earning a large income at a young age was controversial, she told Israel Channel 2 that her family supported her career.[22]
In 2017 she became the host of Music 24's show "To Be a Singer."[23] She also collaborated with the model Neta Alchimister on social media.[24][25] That same year she was named "the most influential person on Israeli Instagram," by the Israeli Internet Association.[7]Nana 10 also ranked her as the most influential Israeli young person influencing on Instagram in 2017.[6] In June of 2017, Office Depot chose her as the face of its back-to-school campaign in Israel.[26]
Now United
In 2017, she successfully auditioned for Idols creator Simon Fuller's project Now United. She joined an international band with other members representing China, India, Russia, Japan, the UK, the US, the Philippines, South Korea, Finland, and Germany.[4][27] She soon announced that she would head the project, rather than just be one of the singers, which meant regular flights from Israel to Los Angeles while still in school.[10] Because of her native fluency in Russian, she served as the presenter when the group traveled to Russia.[11]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Anna_Zak, and is written by contributors.
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